OUR CLERGY
Father Victor Bullock O.S.B. is the present Vicar and Parish Priest of St. Martin's and is an associate member of the Society of the Holy Cross (S.S.C.) and the Sodality of the Precious Blood (S.P.S.) as well as being a professed member of a Benedictine Community. The Society of the Holy Cross and the Sodality of the Precious Blood both pride themselves as priestly catholic societies within the Church of England that are dedicated to encouraging their members to maintain the highest standards of pastoral care and personal holiness. The Benedictine House of Initia Nova exists to foster the monastic calling to seek God through the three vows of Obedience, Stability and ‘Conversatio Morum’ Conversion of Life through monastic living.
Fr Victor was born and grew up in the sea-side town of Bournemouth, in Dorset, where he attended Saint Peter's School run by the De La Salle Brothers, a teaching order founded by the French priest Saint Jean Baptist de la Salle in the 17th Century. After reading Theology at Southampton University, Father Victor graduated with a Bachelor of Theology degree and continued his studies at Saint Mary's College, Strawberry Hill, London, towards a Post Graduate Certificate in Education.
After a spell in teaching, he entered Seminary life at Saint Stephen's House, Oxford and having gained there his priestly formation and Diploma in Ministry was ordained to the Diaconate in 1994 and served his title in the Cowley Team of Churches on the edge of Oxford. The following year after his ordination to the priesthood at the hand of John Richards, the first Bishop of Ebbsfleet, Father Victor moved to take up his second curacy post at St. Giles, Reading where he served for the next 4 ½ years. On the 20th January 1999 he was inducted as Vicar and became Parish Priest here at Saint Martin's.
On the 14th, November 2013 Bishop Maternus Kapinga of the Diocese of Ravuma in Tanzania (our mission partner) made a visit to the parish and during the Parish Mass conferred on Fr Victor the honour of a Canonry within his Cathedral.
In 2013 Fr Victor entered religious life when he received the habit as a member of a dispersed Benedictine Community. In 2017 Fr Victor made his First Profession and received the community name of Brother Cuthbert and on the 5th November 2020 he made his Solemn Profession within the Benedictine House of Initia Nova.
Father Ian Thomas serves as one of our assistant priests in the Parish. He is married to Annette.
Fr Ian was born and grew up in Birmingham. After leaving school, he attended Bedford College of Education and gained the Certificate in Education qualification. He worked in education for a number of years and then moved into work with the elderly, both in residential and day care settings.
Fr Ian studied for the priesthood on the Oxford Ministry Course. He was ordained deacon in 1992 at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford and priest at St Peter & St Paul, Buckingham in 1993. He has served at St Martin, Fenny Stratford since 1992.
Following his recent retirement, he hopes to spend more time on his interests, which include railways and cricket.
Father John Hibbard is our other assistant priest in the Parish. After a career in Law as a senior adviser to the British Railways Board, Father John trained to become a Reader and served in that capacity in the parish of Stewkley, Buckinghamshire. He later discerned a vocation to the priesthood and after his formation on the Diocesan based Oxford Ministry Course was ordained as a Non Stipendiary Priest. After continuing to serve for a time the people of Stewkley, Father John moved to St. Martin's with his wife Judy in 2005, and was licensed as assistant priest here later that same year.